


Good Luck Charm

by wishfulFeline



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Boys Being Boys, Childhood Friends, Crushes, Friends to Lovers, Gay Panic, M/M, Requited Unrequited Love, bitches be romancing on accident, gloria helps and then cockblocks them, hop is illiterate, hop is stupid as fuck, not really but kind of, victor knows hes gay but hop is confused af
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-31
Updated: 2020-01-31
Packaged: 2021-02-27 14:46:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22488889
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wishfulFeline/pseuds/wishfulFeline
Summary: Gloria asks Hop and Victor to get her some berries for her curry, and the two of them find some things out about themselves and each other in the process.
Relationships: Hop/Masaru | Victor
Comments: 4
Kudos: 97
Collections: something old something new something borrowed something blue





	Good Luck Charm

**Author's Note:**

> this is MEANT to be a part of a MUCH larger fic but because that is gonna take EIGHT THOUSAND YEARS to finish and its VERY ANGSTY i decided ill post this alone first and maybe just put it in a collection with the other fic lol  
> basically i have written so much trainshipping and will not stop

Gloria sighed  **loud.** “Ugh! I don’t have the right berries for this entry...But it’s seriously one of the last ones I need!”

Hop looked up at Gloria, about to bite into a berry before Victor snatched it away. “What do you mean entry? Don’t we have enough berries to cook with between the three of us?”   
“No, stupid, my Curry Dex! See?” She put one hand on her hip and the other thrust her Curry Dex booklet into Hop’s face. “I don’t have enough sour ones! It way easier to cook something spicy, but I’ve already made so many!” 

Hop grabbed to booklet from Gloria to flip through it. “This is a thing? Do other people do this, too?”

“Oh my Arceus, you seriously don’t have one!? Hooop!” Gloria dropped to her knees and took it back from Hop. “I haven’t ever even seen another campsite not using one!”

Hop glanced over at Victor who shyly nodded in confirmation. Hop pouted. “Why didn’t you tell me about it?”

Victor laughed softly. “We kind of just assumed you knew?”

Gloria flopped onto Hop’s lap. “I’m sure even with how posh they seem that Marnie and Bede are doing one too! It’s pretty trendy.”

Hop patted Gloria’s head. “You’re way trendier than I am, y’know? Maybe I’ve just got Mudsdale blinders on about training. I’d have assumed you did too.”

Gloria rolled over to face Hop. “Of course that’s the priority, but shouldn’t we be having some fun too?”

Hop hoped she wouldn’t see the surprise on his face. It really hadn’t been a thought he’d had in a while. When their adventure first started he felt like all of it would be fun, and sometimes it was, but he’d really let the stress of losing get to him. Being with Gloria and Victor would certainly be something that’d be enjoyable. 

Victor hummed in agreement. “I’d have expected you to be the one having the most fun of us.”

Hop felt a tinge of shame at that. “I am having fun! It’s just...I have been pretty single-minded lately.”

Gloria hugged Hop’s waist. “Then let’s have a fun night together! As much as I love training and battling and kicking your butts, no fighting of any kind tonight, capiche? So, go fetch me some berries, okay? I’m gonna finish setting up everything else before sunset starts! It’ll be nicer to cook while there's still some natural light.” 

She sat back up and fixed her hat before standing up. “Don’t come back till you have some sour ones! You can look at Victor’s Curry Dex to know which ones I need.”

Hop stood up and held out his hand to Victor, who accepted it to leverage onto his feet as well. His touch lingered when he met Hop’s eyes, but he let go, their fingertips running past each other. Hop wanted to shiver, a tingle having run up his arms, but rather just smiled at Victor. “Off we go then, right?” 

Victor nodded fiercely. It made Hop smile wider. “I know where the nearest ones are!”

Victor took off before Hop could even pick up his feet, but right away he sprinted after him, bag thrashing back and forth as he did. “Somebody’s eager, ey?” 

They slowed to a stop in front of a thick tree. From the outside, it didn’t look very plentiful, but looking into the branches from below one could see the rare berries growing closest to the trunk. “Dang, mate, this is a real nice find…” Hop said, chest pressed to the tree to look up.

Victor held onto the straps of his backpack and grinned. “I’m good at this, right? I mean, I’ve…” he trailed off, normal shyness returning. “I’m really enjoying cooking for my Pokémon all the time like this.”

Hop turned away from the tree to put his hands behind his head. “That’s really nice! I’m not too good at cooking, but I love getting to let them all out to play and become friends, yeah?”

Victor perked up again at that. “Yeah! They can be really cute at times!”

Victor’s excitement made Hop consider saying “ _ You can be really cute at times”  _ but bites it back. “Sometimes I'm a little surprised by it actually. You wouldn’t expect to ever think Cramorant or Silicobra cute, but it’s happened.” Hop keeps himself from mentioning the new Pokémon he’d caught. It’d be better to keep it a surprise for next time they battled.

Victor cleared his throat. “We better not get too distracted, eheh. Let’s get some berries!”

He grabbed the tree trunk and pushed against it over and over. The tree wavered slightly, but not enough for any berries to drop. Victor pouted. “Are you gonna help?”

“I thought big strong Victor could handle it himself,” Hop answered as he pressed his hands against the tree.

“I’m not  _ weak,  _ this tree is just big!” 

The two of them shook the tree until the berries started to drop down. Some hit branches during their fall, but some bruising wouldn’t make a difference when they were being cooked down.

“Alright, now here’s a start!” Hop took his bag off and started to pick up berries and dropping them in. 

Victor hummed in agreement. “And we didn’t even get attacked by a Greedent!”

Hop smiled to himself. “That happens to you too?”

Victor started picking up the berries too and answered, “I think it happens to everybody.”

Hop and Victor both reached for a Lansat berry at the same time, Hop’s hand landing on top of Victor’s. They both jerked back quickly before looking at each other.

“Ah! Sorry! You go ahead!” Hop said hurriedly. He didn’t know why something so small automatically made him so jumpy.

Victor shook his head quickly. “No, no, I insist! I mean...well, it’s a Lansat berry, isn’t it?”

Hop raised one eyebrow. “Uh...I don’t really know. Does your Curry Dex say?”

“Ah, that’s right! I think the Rotomdex could tell us too, but, I’m pretty sure it’s a Lansat berry anyways.” Victor squatted down to pick up the berry and offer it to Hop. “It’s a very rare berry. It’s pretty commonly seen as a good luck charm, that whoever holds it is brought joy. So...I thought you should have it.”

Hop swallowed, glancing between the berry and Victor’s gentle smile before taking it. “Victor...darn, mate, you’re catching me off guard doing something so sweet outta the blue like that,” Hop said, face flushing slightly. He quickly stood up, causing Victor to jerk his head up to follow. “You said it’s really rare, right? We shouldn’t let this opportunity go to waste, then!”

Hop jumped up, clinging to the tree like a Skwovet. “Eh!?” Victor exclaimed. Hop reached up to grasp a branch and pulled himself up higher.

“Hey, hey, wait, what are you doing!?” Victor shouted. 

“Taking advantage of this opportunity! We can’t possibly shake down all of ‘em, so figured I should grab some instead!” 

Victor couldn’t argue that logic, but he still nervously shook his hands at his sides. “Be careful, at least!”

“Yeah, mum, I will,” Hop mocked. He tossed down a berry to Victor, which the brunette luckily caught. He stuck his tongue out in focus and pushed against the branch to reach a higher one with his other hand.

“Alright, get ready!” Hop said. He started plucking the berries that seemed the ripest in arm's length and tossing them down. Victor hurried to catch as many as he could, but he missed plenty and dropped just as many. 

Victor laughed loudly as he scrambled to pick up more without the others he was holding slipping out of his arms again. “Okay, enough, enough! I didn’t think we could possibly get this many berries from one tree!”

Hop turned to look at Victor, and when he was sure he was looking, winked and said “You’re welcome.”

Victor’s stomach flipped and Hop leapt out of the tree. He managed to stick the landing, but just the landing. As he stepped forward, his foot landed on a Hondew berry, squashing it completely. He careened forward, crashing into poor Victor. Victor tried to catch Hop, but doing so was useless, and he too was knocked backwards. 

His head crashed onto the ground, disorienting him. But once he processed what had happened, he burst out laughing. “Hahaha! Oh my Arceus, you seriously just tried to seem sooo cool and then immediately trip and fall!? You’re such a dork, I can’t believe that, ahaha!” Victor threw his arms around Hop as he laughed. Hop started laughing right away too, head on Victor’s stomach.

“Oh shut up, there’s berries all over the place now because  _ someone  _ couldn’t catch them all!”

Victor lightly chopped Hop on the top of his head. “How could I possibly catch them all with you launching them all over the place!?”

“Aw, c’mon now, I’m just being helpful, you do your part too!” Hop insisted. 

Victor laid his hands on Hop’s back over his shoulders. Hop tried to sit up to find he was almost entirely on top of Victor. “Oh, shoot! I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was crushing you!” 

Victor laughed again to hide his embarrassment at their current predicament. “You weren’t, don’t worry. You feel lighter than my Ponyta.”

“Woah, there’s no way I’m that light!” Hop said, now close enough to Victor that he could rest his head on his chest. Before they could get any closer, Hop sat up all the way and pat his bicep. “This is all muscle, baby!”

Victor smiled nervously, heart skipping a beat at the jokingly used pet-name. “Yeah right, all of that is curry.”

“Nuh uh, all of  _ you  _ is curry! I could carry you easier than you’re gonna be able to carry your bag after all of these!” Hop returned to his feet, wiping the berry juice off his shoe on the grass.

The image entering his head made Victor’s breath hitch. “You don’t need to prove that or anything, since I know you can’t already.”

Hop bent his knees and held out his arms. “Well, come on then!”

Victor visibly blushed then. “Hold on now, I said you don’t need to prove it!” 

“Naw, but I’m gonna!”

Hop rushed forward and grabbed Victor. Victor screamed, partly in surprise but also in delight, and Hop swung him around by the waist. He put Victor back on the ground to then pick him up Bridal style. “See! What’d I tell ya? Aaall muscle.”

Victor covered his face, turning redder by the second. “I get it, I get it! You’re humiliating me!”

“It’s just us two, so you don’t need to get embarrassed,” Hop assured him.

Victor sunk in on himself with how close Hop’s face was to his. “I could get embarrassed all by myself, thank you very much.”

Hop laughed and put Victor down, the brunette keeping his face covered the whole time. Hop forced his hands apart to look at him, causing Victor’s heart to pound. 

It was impossible for him to deny his romantic feelings for Hop. He’d known of them for over a year now, and their strength never wavered, only grew. He feared they were extremely obvious, but insisted to himself nothing would come from it. But this evening was making it difficult to not do something rash. The fact he and Hop continued to get so close, talking in a way that if one of them was a girl would be seen as flirting, it was becoming too hard to take.  _ He swore to himself that eventually, some time during their journey to the championship, he’d tell him. _

On Hop’s end, he just didn’t know. Romance was never really something that’d crossed his mind before. He never had many close friendships aside from with Gloria and Victor, he was often too busy putting his all into something ( _ typically Pokémon related) _ to care. But...he knew there was something different awakening in him since their adventure had begun. Gloria being physical with him versus Victor being physical with him, the difference between how the two made him feel was staggering and confusing. He was equally close to both of them, wasn’t he? So why did Victor make his heart go on a rollercoaster ride whereas Gloria made him feel at ease?

Maybe...did he? Like guys? Was that something that was possible? He’d never considered it an option before, but he’d never truly seen any girls as an option either. Was he gay? Was Hop gay? How was he supposed to know?

Did he need to, like... _ kiss a boy? _

The tiny distance between Hop and Victor’s faces caused these ideas to spring back to the front of their minds. Victor tightly shut his eyes. Was this the moment? Was something actually about to happen? Hop felt heat rush to his face as his eyebrows shot up. He glanced at Victor’s lips before absentmindedly licking his own. He shut his eyes too. He just had to turn his head a little and lean forward, right?

Before their lips met, they both jolted back at the sound of Gloria’s voice.

“Hop, Victor, you idiots! It’s already nearly sunset! Wherever you are, just come back already! Or no curry for you!”

“Cooomiiing!” Hop shouted back, cupping his hands around his mouth. 

Victor hurriedly started to pick up the berries on the ground and stuffing his backpack full. His face was as red as a Cheri berry thinking about what had just almost happened. Was Hop going to kiss him!? Did that mean he  _ wanted to?  _ That Hop wanted to kiss Victor just like Victor wanted to kiss Hop!?

Hop too was picking up berries quickly, greatly flustered. Was he seriously about to kiss Victor? Was Victor  _ letting  _ him? Did that mean Victor liked boys too? Was he gay? Were they about to be  _ gay together!? _

“Let’s hurry back!” Victor quipped. “I think with you having climbed the tree we managed to get enough with just one. Th-Thank you, by the way!” He jumped up, his bag leaping up to his shoulders. “Last one back has to wash the pot!” Victor teased, trying to force his heart back down his throat. 

Hop rushed after Victor. “No thanks to that! I’m the one who’s stronger, remember!”   
“Then you can use those muscles to wash the pot!”   
“Oh, don’t use my words against me like that!”   
The two laughed at each other as they ran back towards Gloria, their tents back in view. They desperately tried to clear the air between them before they got back to Gloria.


End file.
